theoretical perspectives on mobile phonesusage for road safety

International Journal of Management, IT & Engineering

Vol. 8 Issue 11, November 2018, ISSN: 2249-0558 Impact Factor: 7.119Journal Homepage: http://www.ijmra.us, Email: [email protected] Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories Indexed & Listed at: Ulrich's Periodicals Directory ©, U.S.A., Open J-Gate as well as in Cabell’s Directories of Publishing Opportunities, U.S.A

312 International journal of Management, IT and Engineering http://www.ijmra.us, Email: [email protected]

Theoretical perspectives on Mobile Phonesusage for Road Safety

D.K. Pathak*, PhD. Scholar in Bhagwant University, Ajmer-305004, India

Dr. R.N. Khare, Principal, Vishwavidyalaya Engineering College, ,Lakhanpur, Ambikapur,Distt.-Surguja (C.G.)

Dr. Munna Verma, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bhagwant University, Ajmer-305004, India

Abstract In order to investigate some key issues related to mobile phones‟ security from auser‟s perspective, this paper

explores and presents with using results of a survey conducted in the University of Ioannina, Greece according to which 454 participants were asked about quite many key factors concerning various aspects about a possible interception of their mobile phoneand put in place measures to address mobile phone use among drivers.Mobile phone services are increasingly integrated with other applications (e.g. e-mail and Internet access via "smart phones") and that information on the risks of such devices for road traffic crashes, as well as on potential countermeasures, is therefore likely to evolve alongside the rapidly technological changes taking place in this area. As per the Supreme Court of India appointed committee on road safety, nearly 150000 people die in road accidents in the country every year. Another 5 to 7 lakh people are believed to be injured, leading to handicapped status. Government has made several efforts to enhance road safety in recent years. A major one was the appointment of the committee on Road Transport and Traffic Management (Sunder Committee, 2007). Report of the committee on Road Safety and Traffic Management (Last updated on 26.09.2014) under the Chairmanship of Shri S. Sunder, former Secretary then Ministry of Surface Transport is published on the website

a. Suggestions/comments on the

Report, if any may be sent. Hence, this paper is related to suggestions for the effect of using mobile phones on Road Safety and Traffic Management.

1. Introduction

While the body of research looking at the risk associated with using a mobile phone while driving

is growing rapidly, there is much less known about the effectiveness of interventions to address this

issue. In the last decade alone, India lost 1.3 million people to road crashes and another 5.3

million havebeenseriouslyinjured. Indiahasthehighest number of road crash fatalities, with a

crash occurring every minuteandonedeatheveryfour minutes. While it has just 1% of the

world‟s vehicles, India accounts for over 10% of global road crash fatalities. According to the

„Road Accidents inIndia‟, 2015 reportof Ministryof Road Transport

andHighways(MoRTH),146,133peoplewerekilled in road crashes in 2015 alone including 12,589

children. This number is not only the highest that India haseverrecordedinhistory,

butitrepresents a 53.9% increase over the last decade, and nearly a ten-fold increase

since1970.

Not only does the loss or impairment of a breadwinner of a family in a road crash inflict

emotional trauma on lakhs of families, it imposes a severe financial burden by pushing entire

households into poverty. In a 2014 report, the erstwhile Planning Commission of India had

estimated that the annual cost of road crashes in Indiais3%ofitsGDP.WithIndia‟sGDPin2015-16

being INR 136 lakh crore, these figures translate into an annual monetary loss of INR 4.07 lakh

crore. Ironically, it is over five times the budget of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways,

the nodal agency for ensuring road safety inIndia.

*Associate Professor in Civil Engineering Department, Jabalpur Engineering College, Jabalpur (M.P.).

Email: [email protected]

a. Published by The Secretariat for the Committee on Infrastructure Planning Commission, Govt. of India.

http://www.ijmra.us/





Mobile phones play vital roles in human societies; particularly, in developed and developing

countries. While individuals are relying on mobile communication deeply, not only the commercial society

but also the telecommunication industry is developing new functions and applications which are still

modifying the term mobile communication. Voice transmission is no longer the only way individuals use

mobile phones. Instead, mobile phone networks have become a new platform where data, information

and transactions are exchanged. As a result, the more mobile phones can do, the more information is

exposed to danger.

Multi-functional mobile phones which contain camera lenses, Mp3 players/recorders, schedule

organizers, gaming functions and the like, have increased the concerns of individual privacy and personal

data/information security. The possibility of resembling privacy and security issues common with the

Internet is the major concern when transactions are made via mobile phones.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Indiacurrently has

1billionmobile phone subscribers. Due to the high penetration of mobile

phones,theiruseontheroadhasalso increasedasprovenbythisstudywith1outof2 respondents

of this survey having used a phone whiledriving.Unfortunately,inIndia,thereisno data that is

being currently captured at the crashsitebyauthoritiestorecordtheconnection between mobile

phone usage and crashes. The Government of India in a 2015 report revealed

that“2,270”peoplewerekilledin“8,359”crashes dueto„driver‟sinattentiveness‟.But,thereisno

sub-set of this data that points out as to the exact number out of these 8,359 crashes which

were caused as a result of mobile phone usage. On the other hand, understanding the

growing threat that mobile phone usage during driving

possesses,countrieslikeUSAhavebeencapturingdataatthecrashsite.Forexample,in2014,there

were 2,955 fatal crashes that occurred on U.S. roadwaysthatinvolveddistraction

(10%ofallfatalcrashes),outofwhichtherewere385fatalcrashes

reportedtohaveinvolvedtheuseofcellphonesas distractions (13% of all fatal distraction-

affected crashes).

Data and information security concern has been fiercely discussed along with the progress of

wireless technology, as a result of wireless communications are fundamentally a broadcast-based

medium. In a mobile phone communication system, for example, since all transmitted data travel directly

between a mobile host and the base station, it is possible to copy all the data of a particular message

transmitted through the air. For a mobile phone network, security is the issue critically important to end-

users and service providers from various perspectives. In one hand, consumers need to be assured

levels of trust to embrace m-commerce; in the other, Service providers benefit from wireless security in

protection from fraudulent use of services, protection from unauthorized use of mobile devices (i.e.,

cloning), managing the distribution of digital rights (that is, distribution of audio and video files under

license arrangements), and possibly as a competitive advantage relative to other service providers.

The importance of mobile phone privacy and security becomes increasinglysignificant to publics

for numerous reasons. First, the increased connectivity of people has, without question, begun to diminish

the concept of being out of reach. No longer can one blame their unexplained absence on a lack of

appropriate technology. Rather, one is now often subject to answering questions of where they are at any

given time. This raises the matter of people being constantly accountable. It is one thing to be responsible

for your office job but to be disturbed at the most inopportune of times is another. Personal information

should be exactly that personal. When others choose to disrespect ones privacy and security the victim is

often left feeling violated. Further, we are now aware that it is not only those we know who can interrupt






us or cause us grief. Therefore the question will continued to be asked; namely, where should the line be

drawn?

Mobile phone subscribers worldwide will hit the four billion mark by the end of 2008,according to

the head of the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) .Most of the increase in cell

phone usage will be from the rapidly developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, which

altogether account for over 1.3 billion mobile phone subscribers by year-end.In its daily news digest, the

ITU said the number of subscribers has surged nearly 25 percent annually for the past eight years. In

2000, mobile penetration stood at only 12 percent, growing to reach over 60 percent by the end of 2008.

2. Related Work Although there have been quite many theoretical studies concerning mobile services, a significant

mean for investigating and understanding users‟ preferences is asking their opinion via specific

questioning techniques (i.e. in-person delivery or e-mail questionnaires). There exist several survey

studies in this direction. A survey started at the end of year 2000 described the current trends in mobile

phone usage among adolescents. Another survey was conducted in April 2001, and it examined the

mobile phone usage among elderly. The respondents were 300 men and women in their sixties. The

survey conducted in November 2000 involved 1000 subjects and investigated the use of mobile phones in

every day urban life. All of these surveys indicate the growing importance of mobile phones in everyday

life and the increased popularity of new features such as email.

In a recent survey of mobile users versus shoppers in Finland, Germany and Greece , mobile

shoppers were less focused on price and more on ease of use than mobile users but these differences

were not consistent across countries. Thus the findings may indicate that the early adopters of mobile

data services and adopters of traditional mobile services are not that different. The above remarks were

also verified by some exclusive studies for the Greek mobile market.

3. Research Analysis andResults 3.1. Methodology

Survey was conducted using in-person delivery technique, with a total of 454 respondents

participating in this survey. All the respondents were students in University of Ioannina and were asked

for their participation in a questionnaire. Having such a supervised survey technique ensures that each

respondent understands each of the questions and answers them correctly.

Targeting such a group is due to the fact that we wanted the participants to form a representative

set in a certain age area (18-24), which corresponds to a major percentage of the overall users in the

current mobile Greek market and thus have the potential to adopt new services as well. As far as

concerning the gender statistics, 54,53% of the participants were men, while 42,73% were women.

Selected „gender‟ to be main variable, as it appears to be a rather significant factor towards the adoption

of mobile services.

3.2 Survey Results

Survey was categorized in two main parts. In the first one, we are surveying some generic issues

concerning the gender and the kind of studies, while in the second one, emphasize on the users‟

positions about their concern for the fact that a third person could intercept their mobile phone and extract

valuable and personal information. (i.e. position, phonebook, messages, discussions etc.).

3.2.1 Generic Queries






3.2.1.1. Gender and Studies Profile The participants were asked to define their gender and kind of studies. The results are shown in

figure.1and figure 2.

Figure 1: Percentage of participants by gender. Figure 2: Percentage of participants by kind of studies.

3.2.2. Specific Queries 3.2.2.1. Location Awareness

The queries No 3, No 4 and No 5 of questionnaire hadbeen tried to determine this level. In specific they

answer how concerned they are in case of a third person (not the provider) could know their position with

a few meters accuracy, neighborhood accuracy and if and when they have passed by a certain point

correspondingly. The results by gender are shown in the three following figures.

Figure 3: Level of concern about location awareness with a few meters accuracy by gender.

Figure 4: Level of concern about location awareness with neighborhood accuracy by gender.

As the previous figures depict, the women are more concerned in general. This is also confirmed by a






statistic analysis has been made for the third query of our questionnaire. The results are shown in the

Table 1.

Women seem to be more concerned than men (59.8% vs. 53.6%)

Pearson Chi- Gender

Square= 14.120,

df=5, p-value =

Sum 0,0149 Men Women Query Highly 97 73 170 No 3 39,1% 37,6% 38,5%

High 36 43 79 14,5% 22,2% 17,9% Enough 33 35 68 13,3% 18,0% 15,4% Not too 47 16 63 much 19,0% 8,2% 14,3% Not at 31 23 54 all 12,5% 11,9% 12,2% N/A 4 4 8 1,6% 2,1% 1,8%

Table 1: Statistic analysis for local awareness(Query No3) by gender.

Women seem to be more worried in case of query No 5 too. According to results the level of concern

is 65,5% for women versus 51,6% for men.In the sixth figure of this subsection, the results that come

from the participants‟ answers regarding the level of concern about location awareness (Query No3-

few meters) by kind of studies.

Figure 5: Level of concern about location awareness by gender. Figure 6: Level of concern about location awareness

A remarkable note coming out of this figure is that the students of applied sciences seem to be more

concerned about the possibility of location awareness, even if in general we notice that all the students

have these security issues on their mind and seem to worry about them.

3.2.2.2. Interceptions






In order to have a deeper view of participants‟ awareness level, some common questions regarding

various kinds of interception had been asked. The participants were asked to determine their level of

concern answering the queries No 6 to No 13 and the results are shown below.

Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 7: Level of concern about photos/various files interception by gender. Figure 8: Level of concern about the chance that a third person knows whenyou turn on/off your phone.

The figure 7 is a typical one and could make out that it depicts very well the answers they are given to the

queries No 6 to No 9 and No 9 to No 13. There is no considerable difference between the results of the

two genders. For the same set of queries the results by kind of studies are also similar. The results that

represent men and women are similar to those that represent students of applied and inexact sciences

correspondingly. The only results that made a difference are shown in the figure 8 and are related to the

query No 10.

According to the results, the students of inexact sciences seem to be more concerned than these of

applied about the fact that a third person could know exactly when they turn on/off their mobile phone.

The analogy between applied/inexact sciences and men/women applies to this case too. Statistic analysis

showed us that women seem to be more worried about this chance than men (55.7% vs. 41.9%) and

about the fact that an intruder could deprive them of the ability to use their phone temporarily (73.7% vs.

62.5%).

3.2.2.3. Considerations about safety and security

The objective of this particular subsection of research is to determine if oparticipants consider that the

previously mentioned kinds of interception are possible to happen, as well as if they assume

communication through mobile phones safe and if they are informed about that mobile phone‟s options

and characteristics affect its security.The answers of the query No 14 are shown in the figure 9 below, by

kind of sciences.






Figure 9: Level of concern about the likelihood that interceptions occur bykind of sciences.

It is obvious the fact that all the students, regardless of their kind of studies, believe that the various

interceptions possibly occur and according to their answers they do not consider communication through

mobile phones safe.According to statistic analysis‟ results, men consider communication safer than

women (13.7% vs. 3.1%) and they are better informed about their phones (27% vs. 13.4%).

4. Conclusions

A major part of the mobile users are extremely concerned about the most kinds of interception

and the fact that an intruder could gain unauthorized access to their devices. Furthermore, we argue that

there is no feeling of safety and no advanced technical knowledge of their mobile phones among young

adult population.

The use of wireless devices is here to stay. The number of devices, and more importantly, the

types of devices, will only increase over time. There are undeniable cost benefits and increases in

efficiency that can be derived from their use. But these benefits will only be actualized if a culture of

privacy is developed. As wireless communication technology becomes fully integrated into information

systems and business processes, it is inevitable that substantial amounts of personally identifiable

information will flow over the airwaves. Since radio waves are a broadcast medium, capable of being

received by anyone who is in range, reception of the signal by unauthorized receivers cannot be

prevented. Therefore, those responsible for personal information must ensure that “data-in-motion” must

be strongly encrypted at all times. Finally we should have in mind that users are critically affected by

security and privacy issues, and play a key role in protecting themselves and others.

5. Discussions

Consider the following statistics: 360 people die from road accidents every day in India, a full 10%

of the global total. During the year 2011, the total number of person killed in road accidents were 142,492

out of which 12,867 (9%) were pedestrians.. As of 2007, the rate of deaths from road accidents per

100,000 of the population was 16.8% in India. The Working Group on Road Accidents, Injury Prevention

and Control set up by the Planning Commission in the year 2000 had assessed the social cost of road






accidents in India at Rs. 55,000 crores which constituted about 3% of the GDP of the country in the year

1999-2000. These statistics present a rather harrowing picture of the state of affairs. Yet, the sad truth is

that these regularly occurring road accidents attract less media attention than other, less frequent but

more unusual types of tragedies. In 2005, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of

India (“MoRTH”)constituted the Committee on Road Safety and Traffic Management to make proposals

for a national level road safety organization and recommend the functions and responsibilities of the

proposed organization. The Committee defined road safety as a multi-sectoral and multidimensional issue

that incorporates the development and management of road infrastructure, provision of safer vehicles,

legislation and law enforcement, mobility planning, provision of health and hospital services, child safety,

urban land use planning, etc.

Government has made several efforts to enhance road safety in recent years. A major one was

the appointment of the committee on Road Transport and Traffic Management (Sunder Committee,

2007). The Committee defined road safety as a multi-sectoral and multidimensional issue that

incorporates the development and management of road infrastructure, provision of safer vehicles,

legislation and law enforcement, mobility planning, provision of health and hospital services, child safety,

urban land use planning, etc. Report of the committee on Road Safety and Traffic Management (Last

updated on 26.09.2014) under the Chairmanship of Shri S. Sunder, former Secretary then Ministry of

Surface Transport is published on the website. Suggestions/comments on the Report, if any may be sent.

The resultants are very interesting and can be considered as a potential guide by various mobile

operators for their future technological investments. Governments need to be proactive now, and put in

place measures to address mobile phone use among drivers, while simultaneously monitoring and

evaluating the effects of these interventions.

Hence, this paper is related to suggestions for the Road Safety and Traffic Management for its

important to recognize that mobile phone services are increasingly integrated with other applications (e.g.

e-mail and Internet access via "smart phones"), and that information on the risks of such devices for road

traffic crashes, as well as on potential countermeasures, is therefore likely to evolve alongside the rapid

technological changes taking place in this area. Governments need to be proactive now, and put in place

measures to address mobile phone use among drivers, while simultaneously monitoring and evaluating

the effects of these interventions. The resultants are very interesting and can be considered as a potential

guide by various mobile operators for their future technological investments. In this way the body of

evidence in this area will grow, allowing future policy decisions to be grounded firmly inscience.

Roadtrafficinjuriesaffectallagegroups,buttheirimpactisparticularlystriking among the young – they

are the leading cause of death worldwide among thoseaged15–

29years.Trendssuggestthatbetweennowand2030,road traffic injuries will rise from being the ninth leading

cause of death globally to become the fifth.

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